Then I remembered that I had not implored the help of Heaven, and I prepared for the third time, and when all was ready, and Claverhouse was coming forward, I took off my bonnet, and kneeling with the gun in my hand, cried, "Lord, remember David and all his afflictions;" and having so prayed, I took aim as I knelt, and Claverhouse raising his arm in command, I fired. In the same moment I looked up, and there was a vision in the air as if all the angels of brightness, and the martyrs in their vestments of glory, were assembled on the walls and battlements of Heaven to witness the event,—and I started up and cried, "I have delivered my native land!" But in the same instant I remembered to whom the glory was due, and falling again on my knees, I raised my hands and bowed my head as I said, "Not mine, O Lord, but thine is the victory!"
When the smoke rolled away I beheld Claverhouse in the arms of his officers, sinking from his horse, and the blood flowing from a wound between the breast-plate and the armpit. The same night he was summoned to the audit of his crimes.
It was not observed by the officers from what quarter the summoning bolt of justice came, but thinking it was from the house, every window was instantly attacked, while I deliberately retired from the spot,—and, till the protection of the darkness enabled me to make my escape across the Gary, and over the hills in the direction I saw Mackay and the remnants of the flock taking, I concealed myself among the bushes and rocks that overhung the violent stream of the Girnaig.
Thus was my avenging vow fulfilled,—and thus was my native land delivered from bondage. For a time yet there may be rumours and bloodshed, but they will prove as the wreck which the waves roll to the shore after a tempest. The fortunes of the papistical Stuarts are foundered for ever. Never again in this land shall any king, of his own caprice and prerogative, dare to violate the conscience of the people.
Quharist, 5th November 1696.
GLOSSARY
Airt, direction, point of the compass.
almous, alms.
atwish, betwixt.
aught, possession.
aumrie, store-cupboard.
Bakie, a large square wooden vessel.
beek, v. bathe; here, bask.
bein, well-to-do, comfortable.
ben, within.
benweed, ragwort.
bield, shelter.
big, v. build.
bilf, a blunt stroke (Jamieson).
bir, impetuosity.
blate, bashful.
blether, v. talk foolishly.
blithemeat gift, gift made to those present at a child's birth.
bout-gait, roundabout.
bow, arch, gateway.
boyne, tub.
braird, the first sprouting of grain.
brattle, v. clatter.
brechan, bracken.
buirdly, burly.
bunker, bench.
busk, adorn.
but, but the house, toward the outer apartment of a house.
by ordinare, out of the common.
Ca', v. drive.
callan, callant, boy.
camstrarie, unmanageable, perverse.
cantrip, magical device.
canty, lively.
cap, a wooden bowl.
carl, fellow (fem.) carlin.
carry, motion of the clouds.
carse, low-lying fertile land, generally adjacent to a river.
causey, street or paved road;
crown of the causey, middle of the street.
change-house, a small inn or ale-house.
chap, v. strike.
chappin, a quart measure.
chimla, chumla, chimney;
chimla-lug, fireside.
churme, murmur.
clachan, hamlet.
clamper, to make a noise with the feet in walking.
claught, snatched (pret. of v. clatch).
clishmaclavers, idle discourse.
clok, beetle.
clout, ragged cloth.
Cluty, fam. the "Old One."
cod, pillow, cushion.
couthiness, kindness.
cowan-boat, a fishing-boat.
cranreuch, hoar-frost.
creel, basket.
crouse, confident, crack crouse, to "talk big."
cruisie, crusie, a small iron lamp.
cuif simpleton.
cushy-doo, cushat, dove.
Dark, darg, task.
dauner, daunder, stroll.
dauty, pet.
dinle, thrill.
dirl, v. clatter, thrill.
doless, void of energy.
dominie, schoolmaster.
donsie, unfortunate.
door-cheek, door-post.
doure, hard, harsh.
dow, v. can compass.
dowie, dull.
dreich, tedious.
drumly, turbid, troubled.
duds, rags.
dunt, to knock out by repeated blows.
dwam, seizure (sickness).
dyke, boundary wall.
Ellwand, yard-measure.
erles, arles, an earnest.
ettle, v. aim.
excambio, exchange ratified by law.
eydent, zealous, industrious.
Fash, v. vex.
fek, "o' ony fek," of any effect.
fey, infatuated.
fisle, v. rustle.
flesher, butcher.
flit, v. word in general use in Scotland for changing residence.
flyte, v. scold.
foregather, v. get into company together.
fornent, in front of.
fyke, bustle.
Gait, gate, way.
gar, compel.
gardevine, cellaret.
garnel, granary.
gaud, a bar of metal.
gauntrees, gantrees, a stand for a barrel.
gawsie, gaucy, jolly.
geizen't, drought-cracked.
gett, contemptuous term for progeny.
gif, if.
gir, gird, hoop.
girn, a snare.
glaikit, foolish.
glebe, land held ex officio by a parish minister.
gled, hawk.
gleg, eager.
glower, v. glare.
gludder, the sound caused by a body falling among mire (Jamieson).
gowk, fool, lit. cuckoo.
greet, weep.
grew, v. shudder.
grouff, belly.
gude-mother, mother-in-law.
gurl, n. growl.
gurly, surly.
Hack, a rack for horses or cattle.
haffet, side-lock.
Hallowe'en, the eve of All Saints' Day.
hap, wrap.
harl, v. drag.
hass, throat.
havers, foolish or incoherent talk.
hempy, rogue.
herry, harry.
hirkos (Lat. hircus), a he-goat.
hirple, limp.
hirstle, to shove oneself along by the hands in a seated posture.
hobbleshow, a difficulty.
Hogmanæ, the last day of the year.
holm, howm, low-lying level ground on the banks of a river.
hooly, cautiously.
horse-setter, job-master.
howdy, midwife.
howf, n. haunt.
howk, dig, burrow.
hyte and fykie, anxious and irritable.
Jawp, v. dash and rebound as water (Jamieson).
jealouse, suspect.
jelly-flowers, gilliflowers.
jimp, scarcely.
jink, chink (corruption).
jo, sweetheart.
jow, v. toll.
Kail, cabbage; soup made with the same.
kell, scurf on a child's head (Jamieson).
kep, catch.
kist, chest.
kithe, show, appear.
Laigh, low.
lair, lore.
lanerly, alanerly, alone, lonely.
laverock, lark.
lawing, reckoning.
lift, firmament.
limmer, "baggage" (term of depreciation).
linn, waterfall.
lippy, a bumper.
litherly, lazily.
lone, loaning, lane.
loun, serene.
lounder, swinging stroke (Jamieson).
low, n. flame.
lum, chimney.
lug, ear.
luggie, a small wooden vessel made of staves.
Mailing, farm.
manse, residence of a minister of the Gospel.
midden, refuse-heap.
morphosings, metamorphoses.
moss, a place where peat may be dug (Jamieson).
mutchkin, a measure equal to a pint.
Napery, household linen.
neb, beak of a bird.
nieve, fist.
notour, notorious.
O'ercome, burden of a song or discourse.
outstropolous, obstreperous.
oxter, arm-pit, also arm.
Pawkie, sly; pawkrie, slyness.
peeseweep, lapwing.
pen-gun, pop-gun;
a pen-gun at a crack, a "wunner to talk."
pet-day, term applied to a fair day when the weather is generally foul.
pig, earthenware vessel.
plack, small copper coin.
play-marrow, playmate.
prin, pin.
puddock, toad;
puddock-stool bonnet, toadstool or Tam o' Shanter cap.
Rackses, andirons.
raised, delirious.
ree, half-drunk.
reek, smoke.
redde, rede, counsel.
rig, ridge (of ploughed land).
rones, external waterducts of a building.
rug, v. pull roughly.
runkle, crumple.
Scad, gleam, reflection.
schore, a man of high rank.
scog, v. hide.
scomfisht, discomfited.
scowther, scorch.
scrog, a stunted shrub.
shavling-gabbit, shavling mouthed, a shavling being a carpenter's tool of the plane order. Having a mouth which emits sounds like those made in planing.
sicker, certain.
siver, sewer.
skail, skayl, disperse.
skelf, shelf.
skirr, scour.
sklinter, v. splinter.
skreigh, cry.
sleekit, deceitful.
slocken, slake.
smeddam, spirit.
sneck, bolt.
snell, keen.
snod, trim.
snool, subjugate by tyrannical means.
sole, sill.
sorn, to "sponge" upon;
used by Galt for to loiter.
sosherie, social intercourse.
sough, murmur.
spae, v. forecast.
spean, v. wean.
speat, flood.
speer, speir, inquire.
spunk, spark.
staincher, stanchion.
stang, a pole;
to "ride the stang" was to be subjected to a form of mob justice by which the patient was borne shoulder-high astride a pole.
steek, stitch, fasten.
stock (bed-stock), the fore-part of a bed.
stoure, dust in motion.
straemash, disturbance.
stravaig, v. stroll.
swanky, strapping young countryman (Brockett).
swatch, sample.
swee, a chimney crane for suspending a pot over the fire (Jamieson).
swither, v. to be reluctant, hesitate;
n. reluctance, hesitation, indecision.
syne, then.
Tack, lease.
taigle, hinder, delay.
tawnle, bonfire.
temming, a coarse thin woollen cloth.
tent, heed.
thacket, thatched.
thole, endure.
throng, adj. busy.
thumbikins, thumbscrews.
tirl at the pin, old-fashioned mode of intimating desire of admission to a house.
tod, tod lowrie, fox.
tolbooth, a municipal building including a jail.
toom, empty.
toop, a ram.
toupie (French), toupet.
trance, paved passage.
trintle, v. roll.
trone, a public weighing-machine standing in a market-place.
Unco, adj. extraordinary, remarkable;
n. remarkable object.
Virl, ring (as those which bind a fishing-rod);
frill.
vivers, provisions.
vogie, vain, complacent.
Wae, grieved.
waff, feeble, worn out.
warrandice, warrant.
warsle, wrestle.
wastage, a place of desolation (J.).
wastrie, waste.
waught, a large draught.
wean, child.
whin, furze.
Whigamore, sometimes derived from "whig," a word used in the West for urging on horses, and hence applied as a nickname to a political party. The expedition of the Covenanters under Eglinton to Edinburgh was known as the Whigamore Raid.
whumple, overturn, reverse.
willease, valise.
willy-wa, palaver, wheedle.
wise, v. entice, incline.
wud, wild.
wuddy, "gallows-looking";
widdy is the gallows.
wyte, blame.
Yett, gate.
yird, n. earth;
v. a. run to earth.